Desolate Grave

One incense stick later.

Qin Yang finally felt the strange changes in his body slowly fading.

He stood up slowly, sensing the transformation in his physique.

With the breakthrough.

His muscles no longer felt weak and flimsy; they had grown firm, faintly showing definition.

His blood and qi still boiled wildly, large veins bulging, giving his skin an unusually crimson hue.

His understanding of the Arhat Fist surged like a rocket, as if he had trained it hard for over a year.

He summoned the panel.

Host: Qin Yang

Arhat Fist: Proficient (1/300)

"Sure enough, no bottlenecks at all—as long as the experience points are enough, I can break through."

Qin Yang was exceptionally excited.

He felt his body brimming with vitality, unable to wait to step out of the room and continue training.

This startled Xiao Huan: "Young master, are you sure you don't need to rest a bit more?"

"Haha, no need!"

"Brew another bowl of medicinal soup for this young master."

Qin Yang strode out of the small courtyard.

After the breakthrough, the feeling of his body growing stronger was just too satisfying!

"I've heard that martial artists have two major realms: blood and qi, and inner breath."

"Among them, blood and qi is divided into three minor stages: Condensing Force, Blood Moving, and Gathering Qi."

"Condensing Force means forging out fist force."

"This fist force is the soul of the fist technique—with a soul, the technique can reach the divine!"

Qin Yang recalled the words Qian Hai had used to teach the guards in the past.

Of course, forging fist force wasn't easy; some people spent their entire lives unable to do it.

Within Qin Manor, aside from the family head Qin Dongsheng, who was a Blood Moving Martial Artist, only Qian Hai had stepped into Condensing Force. The rest of the guards were all unranked martial artists.

"Once I train the Arhat Fist to minor mastery, I should be able to forge fist force too."

"I wonder if one month is enough."

Qin Yang felt he was thinking a bit too far ahead.

He cast aside distractions and continued training the Arhat Fist.

In the days that followed, Qin Yang trained the Arhat Fist like a man possessed, doing nothing but eating, sleeping, and practicing.

Whenever any of his idle friends came looking for him, he had Xiao Huan turn them away, claiming he was recovering from an illness.

The family business required no management from him; with Qin Dongsheng away, the several stewards could handle things on their own.

He pushed his body to its limits every day, crazily and exhaustively, and his appetite grew larger and larger.

With a deeper understanding of the Arhat Fist, the time it took to complete a full set decreased significantly.

Coupled with his improved stamina, Qin Yang could endure higher-intensity training.

From morning to night, he could practice the Arhat Fist about thirty times each day.

Ten days later.

The Arhat Fist broke through to the Mastery stage.

Qin Yang's physique strengthened once more; his arms and thighs grew thicker.

Especially his fists—the knuckles became unusually large and hard, and the muscle contours were more pronounced.

His comprehension of the Arhat Fist felt like years of practice; every move was exceptionally familiar.

Host: Qin Yang

Arhat Fist: Mastery (0/500)

"Five hundred proficiency points... that's a little over half a month."

"No, that's not right. It should be less—my stamina has increased again, so I should be able to train about forty times a day."

Qin Yang calculated in his mind.

Without another word, he continued his training.

Now, he was sunk into a kind of sick, obsessive fervor.

Because of the despairing and horrifying experiences of his past life, he harbored an almost pathological fixation on making his body stronger.

Another thirteen days passed.

These ten days, Xiao Huan felt like she was living the same day over and over.

Even though she didn't need to cultivate, she was on the verge of breaking down.

She felt her young master had completely gone mad.

Every single day, he repeated the same fist technique, yet Qin Yang seemed to feel no boredom or monotony at all, maintaining an extremely high spirit the whole time.

Just watching him gave her chills.

Boom!

Qin Yang threw another Arhat Demon Subduing!

With this punch, the air seemed to let out a muffled, whistling boom.

Then.

A series of crackling sounds came from his bones. His skeletal frame expanded, his muscles growing firmer and stronger.

Arhat Fist, Minor Success!

At this moment, his Essence, Qi, and Spirit condensed further, gaining a fierce, forceful quality.

"Condense!"

Qin Yang's face twisted as he growled.

He suddenly tensed every muscle in his body, erupting with a burst of fierce power, then rapidly circulated it throughout his body.

In that instant, it was as if dragons and snakes slithered across Qin Yang's skin, bulging and flushing with blood.

"So this is the Arhat Fist force."

"Not enough."

"Still not enough."

"I need to be stronger!!!"

Host: Qin Yang

Arhat Fist: Minor Success (0/800)

Qin Yang stared at the system panel, a sickly grin spreading across his face.

800 experience points. He could grind that out in less than half a month.

The sun set in the west.

A team of five or six people slowly entered an old forest.

"I've been away these days."

"That kid Qin Yang has probably been having the time of his life."

Qin Dongsheng led his horse at the front, shaking his head slightly.

After finalizing his business in Nanxing City, he immediately turned back toward Linjiang City.

But the two cities were some distance apart—it took about ten days to make the round trip. Now, he was already halfway home.

"Patriarch, I think you should find the young master a good girl."

"A man only becomes steady and mature after he settles down and starts a family."

Guard Yu Cheng said with a smile.

"True. The kid's not young anymore."

"Can't let him keep running wild like this."

Qin Dongsheng had the same thought. He glanced at the sky—the dusk was heavy, with faint dark purple hues creeping in.

Autumn came, and night fell fast.

Qin Dongsheng didn't want to take risks: "We'll set up camp in these woods tonight."

"Then Old Li and I will go gather branches." Yu Cheng volunteered.

"Go ahead. Watch out for wild beasts." Qin Dongsheng nodded.

Yu Cheng acknowledged and headed deeper into the woods with another guard.

Qin Dongsheng and the remaining two guards set up the tents.

Soon, the sky went completely dark. Strange sounds began to emerge from the forest.

It sounded like some beast scraping its claws against tree bark, making anyone listening feel tense.

The deep, remote woods were pitch black with no light source, easily stirring thoughts of eerie legends.

Qin Dongsheng waited a long time, but Yu Cheng and the other man still hadn't returned.

"Strange. Why isn't Yu Cheng back yet?"

Qin Dongsheng frowned slightly.

"Head of the family, maybe we should go look for him?" one of the guards suggested.

"You stay here. I'll go look."

Qin Dongsheng stood up and walked deeper into the woods.

As night fell, the forest grew even more bitterly cold.

Qin Dongsheng even sensed a faint, elusive malice that sent a chill down his spine.

"Something's wrong—there must be something in these woods."

He immediately turned back, intending to regroup with the two guards.

But when he returned to the spot, his face went pale in an instant.

The two guards had vanished.

Something new had appeared, though.

A desolate, ruined graveyard.

Crooked tombstones stood densely packed. Scattered on the ground were paper money and yellow funeral slips.

Qin Dongsheng even spotted, by the moonlight, a pale white arm reaching out from beneath a grave mound.

And there were faint, eerie cries.

"Impossible—this graveyard wasn't here before."

His scalp crawled, his face turning green.

Rustle, rustle~

Suddenly.

A noise stirred behind him.

Qin Dongsheng spun around like a startled bird.

Yu Cheng and Old Li emerged from the pitch-black woods.

But the sight of those two men

only made Qin Dongsheng more terrified.

They weren't human at all!

Both faces were dripping with blood, their eye sockets gouged out, grinning at him with twisted smiles.

Fear and despair instantly engulfed Qin Dongsheng's heart.